The Communist Youth of Turkey (TKG) commemorated Deniz Gezmiş, Hüseyin İnan and Yusuf Aslan, in a meeting held at Dolmabahçe, İstanbul on May 5. Deniz, Hüseyin and Yusuf, symbolically called as the "three seedlings" of the patriotic revolutionary youth of 1968, were executed on May 6 1972 through the votes of right wing MPs. According to the Turkish constitution back then, the decision of execution should had been voted in the parliament.
TKG members carried a banner saying "We will defeat imperialism, build socialist Turkey" during the meeting at Dolmabahçe, where the revolutionary youth along with Deniz Gezmiş and his comrades protested and drove to the sea the US 6th fleet anchored at the Bosphorus in 1968.
"THEY NEVER RELENTED"
Baran Nevcanoğlu made the opening speech of TKG and said: "Three seedlings who sow the seeds of patriotism in Turkey never relented." Noting that TKG assumes promoting the legacy of patriotism bestowed by three seedlings as its duty, Nevcanoğlu added "We started an anti-imperialist campaign with this sense of responsibility last semester. We said that imperialism is a world system. The darkness we are passing through is not the creation of certain people. Trump, Merkel and Erdoğan are for sure responsible, but they govern because this social system is dark and terrible." Commenting on the upcoming elections in Turkey on June 24, Nevcanoğlu added that they are not going to side with the ones who say 'To defeat Erdoğan we shall support Abdullah Gül, Muharrem İnce'."
After talking on the anti-imperialist campaign activities TKG had so far since February, Navcanoğlu said "We promise Deniz, Yusuf and Hüseyin that we are going to build socialist Turkey. We are for sure going to accomplish our task. The names of our comrades will be given to the high schools, universities and libraries of the socialist Turkey."
"WE NEED TO BE LIKE DENIZ AGAINST IMPERIALISM"
Yaren Bedel, who spoke for high school students, highlighted that the struggle of Deniz Gezmiş and his comrades meant resisting the perception of being futureless in this social system. She added "The struggle of Deniz Gezmiş and his comrades is standing against reactionism in our schools. It is standing against exploitation, and the ones who plan to split our universities. Deniz Gezmiş and his comrades are with us still in this fight." Bedel also reminded that the capitalists make use of vocational high school students as a cheap labour force, adding "All these can be solved in socialism. Socialism means equality, freedom and enlightenment. We need to struggle against the capitalists. We are going to vote in June elections together with our classmates. The ones who aim to maintain inequality, reactionism and exploitation shall side with the capitalists; Deniz Gezmiş and his comrades, the fight against all these shall be ours."
"THEY ARE AGITATED BY PROGRESSIVE VALUES"
Deniz Büyüker, a student from İstanbul University, addressed by saying "The capitalist class of Turkey have not changed since 46 years, still offering all the resources of our country to the service of the imperialists."
Büyüker continued his speech by saying "They are agitated by the progressive values of our universities." He commented on the plans of the ruling AKP government splitting up some universities in Turkey and said: "We are not going to let them split up the universities of Deniz Gezmiş and his comrades."
"THE OUTCOME OF THE ORGANISED MURDER OF 46 YEARS AGO IS TODAY'S TURKEY"
Aydemir Güler, TKP member and soL columnist , noted that there are some consequences of the murder of three young revolutionaries. "We look through these consequences and see why they were murdered. 46 years later, 177 workers were murdered in last April. 177 workers in 30 days...This is the path Turkey has been channelled following the murder of Deniz Gezmiş and his comrades 46 years ago."
Noting that Deniz Gezmiş and his comrades had always sided with the working class and their struggle, Güler said the MPs who voted in favour of the execution of them had been fighting against the values Deniz Gezmiş and his comrades symbolised. Güler added "They took these three people from us 46 years ago and yet no one say that they succeeded. They will never be able to erase the values Deniz Gezmiş and his comrades represented. They and us both know what will happen to them if they cannot erase these values; it is what happened here 50 years ago. Like the US soldiers driven to the sea here, they will also disappear off the face of the earth and their fight against humanity, their exploitation will end."
Güler also noted that it is the duty of the communists to prove that Deniz Gezmiş and his comrades did not die for nothing. He concluded his speech by saying "As Deniz Gezmiş and his comrades said just before being murdered 'Long live the fraternity of Turkish and Kurdish peoples; down with American imperialism. Long live Marxism-Leninism."
TKG members threw carnations at the sea for the memory of Deniz Gezmiş and his comrades at the end of the meeting, chanting revolutionary marches.
